Post Tagged 'Francis'

ICYMI: Over at The Federalist this past Friday, Ethics and Public Policy Center Fellow Luma Simms reviews Pope Francis and the Caring Society. As noted in my April 18 review, the collection of essays includes perceptive and educational insights from Acton’s own Samuel Gregg as well as many others, including Phillip Booth. Continue Reading...

Review of Pope Francis and the Caring Society, edited by Robert M. Whaples; The Independent Institute, Oakland, CA; 2017, 234 pp.
Having toiled in the free-market research universe for nearly two decades, perhaps the most common misperception I’ve encountered is “whataboutism.” Readers know of which I write: “What about BP and Deepwater Horizon?” or “What about Enron?” and, perhaps most stridently, “What about the mortgage-lending industry’s complicity in causing the Great Recession?” When this rhetorical strafing fails, there’s always the “What about the poor?” and the “What about the environment?” macro-strategies. Continue Reading...

The following essay appeared Friday, May 5, 2017, at Crux.
In a recent message by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Academy of Social Science he outlines some moral concerns about a phenomenon he sees as invading (his term) “high levels of culture and education in both universities and in schools,” namely “libertarian individualism.”
On the first day of my philosophy classes, the professor admonished us that if we want to have an intelligent discussion or debate, we must begin by defining our terms. Continue Reading...

Pope Francis has made support for migrants and refugees a priority of his pontificate, and has encouraged nations to adopt an open-door immigration policy. But few countries, especially in Europe, appear interested in adopting his approach, underscoring just how limited an influence the pope has on foreign policy. Continue Reading...

US Ambassador to the Holy See Talks about Pope Francis’ Visit to the United States
Gerard O’Connell, Vatican Insider
Q: Francis is the first pope ever to address Congress. How do you read this? Continue Reading...

Pope declares Sept. 1 a ‘World Day of Prayer’ for the environment
Rosie Scammell, Crux
The Vatican on Monday announced a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the latest move by Pope Francis to push environmental issues up the global agenda. Continue Reading...

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew receives interfaith environmental honor
Ecumenical Patriarchate
Bartholomew said he was “pleased to learn of the very recent Clean Power Plan of President Obama, which is a significant step in the right direction for the United States of America and which is already approved by the U. Continue Reading...

Senate Dems call for vote on pope’s climate statement
Devin Henry, The Hill
The lawmakers, led by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), introduced a resolution on Wednesday stating that the Senate agrees with the pope’s June encyclical declaring climate change a man-made problem and calling on world leaders to take steps to fix it. Continue Reading...

US Democratic leader Pelosi calls papal encyclical an asset in climate change
Fox Business
Pelosi said Pope Francis’ encyclical “really made an important impression on the world” and noted that citizens “who might reject a policy initiative spoken by a government official in the United States, really cannot ignore his holiness Pope Francis on the subject.” Pelosi made the comments Monday during a visit to the Milan Expo 2015 world’s fair focusing on food security issues, and as President Obama prepared to unveil later in the day new regulations demanding steep greenhouse gas cuts from U.S. Continue Reading...

Today at the Library of Law & Liberty, I examine Pope Francis’s recent speech in Bolivia, in which he calls for “an economy where human beings, in harmony with nature, structure the entire system of production and distribution in such a way that the abilities and needs of each individual find suitable expression in social life.”
I have no objection to that, but what he seems to miss is that the very policies he criticizes all characterize those countries in the world that most closely resemble his goal. Continue Reading...